Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0027651 (tumor)
 685,946 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The quantitative ring immunodiffusion technique was adapted for the determination of the DOPA-oxidase activity of tyrosinase [E.C.1.14.18.1] in the sera of melanotic melanoma-bearing hamsters. The smallest amount of tyrosinase detectable in antibody-agar plates was about 0.5 micrograms/ml. The quantity of tyrosinase in the hamster sera depended on the grade of tumor development and rose to a value of 40 microgram/ml. There was no detectable activity in the sera of hamsters without tumor. The possibility of using this method to test sera of patients and horses with melanoma malignum is discussed.
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PMID:Immunological determination of tyrosinase in sera of melanoma-bearing hamsters. 677 9

Malignant melanomas have been shown to contain high levels of monophenol monooxygenase (tyrosinase) enzyme activity; the enzyme is responsible for melanin synthesis. The melanoma of Sinclair miniature swine has a high incidence of spontaneous regression and thus provides a unique system for analyzing changes in tyrosinase activity at various tumor stages. Three tumor stages (progressively growing tumors, partially regressed tumors, and fully regressed tumors) were analyzed for tyrosinase activity. The progressing tumors were 34-fold higher than were the partially regressed lesions and 400-fold higher than were the fully regressed tumors. Histologically, the decrease in enzyme activity correlated with a loss of tumor cells. Sequential biopsies of tumors during the course of tumor development showed a positive correspondence between tumor volume and tyrosinase activity for the early and late stages of tumor growth and regression. Electrophoretic separation of tyrosinase preparations revealed three major tyrosinase "isoenzymes" whose relative abundance fluctuated during developmental increases and decreases in enzyme activity.
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PMID:Tyrosinase activity and isoenzyme distribution corresponding to growth and regression of melanoma in Sinclair miniature swine. 679 14

Two simple spectrophotometric assays have been employed for the measurement of dopa oxidase activity and ceruloplasmin polyphenol oxidase activity in the sera from normal hamsters and hamsters bearing melanotic melanoma. Both activities were found to be augmented in tumor animals, the dopa oxidase activity much more prominently. The levels of the enzymes tested increased proportionally to the tumor mass.
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PMID:Dopa oxidase activity and ceruloplasmin in the sera of hamsters with melanoma. 679 50

Enzymes characteristically found in the extracellular fluid of tumors, or in elevated concentration in the plasma of tumor-bearing hosts--such as certain glycosidases, certain proteases, and tyrosinase--may possibly play a role in maintaining malignant transformation, promoting tumor invasion, or preventing immune rejection. Experimental data suggests that inhibition of these enzymes could have clinical value. A possible role for such inhibition in a generalized "reverse transformation" strategy is proposed.
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PMID:Non-toxic inhibition of extracellular tumor enzymes--potential in cancer therapy. 680 82

Chloramphenicol-resistant (CAPr) reconstituted cells and cybrids were isolated by fusion of karyoplasts (or intact cells) of mouse amelanotic melanoma B16 cells with cytoplasts of hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HGPRT) -deficient, CAPr rat myoblastic cells, L6TG.CAPr, and double selection in HAT medium containing CAP. Reconstituted cells or cybrids exhibited unique cellular arrangement, and about one third of the isolated clones expressed high tyrosinase activity and marked melanin synthesis, although the parental mouse cells expressed low tyrosinase activity and the parental rat cells did not express tyrosinase activity. These phenotypic changes have been stable for more than a year. The phenotypic reversions of these clonal cells were induced by treatment with a tumor promoter. There were changes in the morphology of the treated cells to that of the mouse B16 cells and extinction of tyrosinase activity and melanin synthesis in pigmented clonal cells. These phenotypic changes and reversions induced by a promoter were repeatedly reversible.
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PMID:Induction of supermelanin synthesis and morphological changes in interspecific reconstituted cells and its reversal by tumor promoter. 681 81

Two melanoma cell lines, each derived from a different patient with metastatic disease, were very similar in their appearance, their growth characteristics, and their tendency to differentiate and to pigment in culture as they become confluent. These lines, UCT-Mel 1 and UCT-Mel 2, were used to study the effects of retinoic acid and other derivatives of vitamin A. When added to UCT-Mel 1 cells, retinoids had only a modest effect on plasminogen activator release and were without measurable effect on morphology, growth, or tyrosinase synthesis. In contrast, when added to UCT-Mel 2 cells, retinoids appeared to induce a more differentiated state evident as an inhibition of cell proliferation and the assumption of a dendritic morphology. Paradoxically, however, retinoids caused a striking inhibition of the density-dependent intracellular accumulation of tyrosinase and melanin that was taken to represent spontaneous in vitro differentiation. Culture of UCT-Mel 2 cells in the presence of retinoic acid resulted in initial inhibition followed by marked stimulation of cellular plasminogen activator release. The data suggest that the manner in which retinoids exert their effects on cells in vitro does not depend on the histological origin of the tumor cells being studied but on the innate responsiveness of that particular cell line to the retinoid or compound in question.
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PMID:Variable effects of retinoids on two pigmenting human melanoma cell lines. 681 52

The mouse melanoma cell line B16/C3 offers an excellent in vitro model for studying melanocyte differentiation. Melanogenesis can be induced by serum, a hormone-supplemented serum-free medium, melanocyte stimulating hormone, and dibutyryl cAMP. The tumor promoter, 12-O-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate, 5-bromodeoxyuridine, and acidic pH inhibit this process. Using two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, we have identified four cellular proteins whose production is modulated during melanogenesis, a process which includes concomitant increases in levels of tyrosinase, the rate limiting enzyme for melanin biosynthesis, melanization, and ultimately, cell death. The production of these proteins are coordinately expressed or inhibited in response to the diverse inducers and inhibitors of melanogenesis. We conclude from these studies that these specific proteins are intimately involved in the differentiation of B16/C3 melanoma cells.
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PMID:Specific protein production during melanogenesis in B16/C3 melanoma cells. 682 62

Cutaneous melanomas of Tyr-SV40E transgenic mice (mice whose transgene consists of the tyrosinase promoter fused to the coding regions of simian virus 40 early genes) strikingly resemble human melanomas in their development and progression. Unlike human melanomas, the mouse tumors all arise in genetically identical individuals, thereby better enabling expression of specific genes to be characterized in relation to advancing malignancy. The products of pigment genes are of particular interest because peptides derived from these proteins have been reported to function as autoantigens with immunotherapeutic potential in some melanoma patients. However, the diminished pigmentation characteristic of many advanced melanomas raises the possibility that some of the relevant products may no longer be expressed in the most malignant cells. We have therefore investigated the contributions of several pigment genes in melanotic vs. relatively amelanotic components of primary and metastatic mouse melanomas. The analyses reveal marked differences within and among tumors in levels of mRNAs and proteins encoded by the wild-type alleles at the albino, brown, slaty, and silver loci. Tyrosinase (the protein encoded by the albino locus) was most often either absent or undetectable as melanization declined. The protein encoded by the slaty locus (tyrosinase-related protein 2) was the only one of those tested that was clearly present in all the tumor samples. These results suggest that sole reliance on targeting tyrosinase-based antigens might selectively favor survival of more malignant cells, whereas targeting the ensemble of the antigens tested might contribute toward a more inclusive and effective antimelanoma strategy.
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PMID:Changes in expression of putative antigens encoded by pigment genes in mouse melanomas at different stages of malignant progression. 747 44

Peptides of melanosomal proteins have recently been shown to be recognized in an HLA-restricted mode by specific cytolytic T lymphocytes in melanoma patients. Dendritic antigen-presenting cells (DC) are considered to be the most effective stimulators of T cell responses, and the use of these cells has therefore been proposed to generate therapeutic responses to tumor antigens in cancer patients. We, therefore, generated DC from peripheral blood of normal donors in the presence of granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor and interleukin-4. Flow cytometric analysis of the cells during a 2-week culture revealed a loss of CD14 and CD34 expression, a concomittent increase of CD1a, CD11a,b and c, CD44, CD45, CD54, HLA-class I and II, and intermediate levels of CD26, CD80 and CD86. Cultured DC stimulated proliferation of allogeneic T cells and induced a marked, up to 20-fold, stimulation of T cell proliferation after pulsing with tetanus toxoid. To achieve independence of already-identified antigenic peptides presented in HLA class I-restricted fashion, which limits the general applicability of such peptides for vaccination of melanoma patients, we tested whether DC are transfectable with eukaryotic expression plasmids. DC transfected with two reporter genes (CAT, beta-galactosidase) using a liposome-based transfection technique, exhibited only low levels of enzymatically active proteins, but were able to degrade rapidly intracellular proteins and to process peptides efficiently. Chloramphenicol acetyltransferase as well as tyrosinase mRNA were detectable after transfection by reverse-transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, and enzyme activities became measurable. Furthermore, DC transfected with the tyrosinase gene were able to induce specific T cell activation in vitro, indicating appropriate peptide processing and presentation in DC after transfection. These data suggest new approaches to future tumor vaccination strategies.
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PMID:Dendritic cells generated from peripheral blood transfected with human tyrosinase induce specific T cell activation. 748 49

Four melanoma proteins, MART-1, gp100, tyrosinase, and tyrosinase-related protein-1 (gp75) were evaluated for recognition by HLA-A2-restricted melanoma-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) derived from the tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) of 10 different patients. 9 of 10 TIL recognized MART-1, 4 recognized gp100 (including 3 that also recognized MART-1), but none of the TIL recognized tyrosinase or gp75. Based on the known HLA-A2.1 peptide binding motifs, 23 peptides from MART-1 were synthesized in an attempt to identify the epitopes recognized by TIL. Three peptides were recognized by TIL when pulsed on T2 target cells. One of the 9-mer peptides, AAGIGILTV, was most effective in sensitizing the T2 cells for TIL lysis. This peptide was recognized by 9 of 10 HLA-A2-restricted melanoma-specific CTLs. Therefore, this peptide appears to be a very common immunogenic epitope for HLA-A2-restricted melanoma-specific TIL and may be useful for the development of immunotherapeutic strategies.
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PMID:Identification of the immunodominant peptides of the MART-1 human melanoma antigen recognized by the majority of HLA-A2-restricted tumor infiltrating lymphocytes. 751 11


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